Conventional personal-care and household and industrial cleaning products are available in solid, powder, liquid, gel and cream forms. The most common and familiar personal-care and cleaning product on the market today is a bar soap, which produces a lather or foam by agitation with the hands and body. Bar soaps come in a variety of types and are relatively inexpensive. However, problems associated with bar soaps are numerous.
One of the most common problems is the difficulty in "working up" a lather from the bar for spreading. Considerable time and dexterity are usually required. Another problem associated with bar soaps is the inability to maintain sanitary conditions while exposing the bar to multiple uses and multiple users. A bar soap is often viewed as an object used by an entire household, office or other users of a common bathroom or sink. While personal hygiene is just that, personal, soap is considered a "community object. " An additional problem associated with bar soaps is maintaining them in a fresh, appealing condition. Soap bars sit in soap dishes and are exposed to moisture where they tend to break down into an unsightly gelatinous state. Additionally, bar soaps tend to cause unsightly residue or "scum" on sink, bath tub and shower surfaces.
In an effort to overcome some of these problems, liquid cleaning and personal-care products were developed. These products are generally available as thick liquids. Examples are shampoos, conditioners, shower gels, liquid soaps and cleaners. These products are relatively slow-foaming and produce very little foam, which is relatively weak and flattens quickly. Additionally, to maintain acceptable levels of foam, repeated use of the products in one grooming or cleaning session is often required. Furthermore, many of these liquid or gel products are subject to a drip or drool factor, whereby after dispensing a portion of the substance remains in the valve of the container and tends to drool after time, leaving an unsightly mess on dispensers and on sink, counter and shower surfaces.
Compositions dispensed as foams overcome some of the shortcomings of bar and liquid products, and are regarded as desirable in part because of an association of foam with cleaning ability. However, even products dispensed as foams often have significant problems related to inadequate characteristics of the foam, as discussed in more detail below.
Post-foaming gel compositions are still another kind of product developed in an effort, among other things, to overcome some of the shortcomings of bar and liquid products. A post-foaming gel composition is typically dispensed from a pressurized barrier package/container in a state where it is substantially free from foaming. When the dispensed gel is spread over the skin, hair or other surface, it gradually post-foams and is thus conveniently transformed into a lathered product without agitation.
One disadvantage associated with post-foaming gel products is that upon dispensing, post-foaming is not easily completed because the gel is not easily spread in an even and fluid manner over the surface to be treated or cleaned. During spreading, the gel tends to clump, pocket, or collect between the fingers and falls off the surface to be cleaned, particularly surfaces that are not horizontal. As a consequence, much of the gel is never transformed through post-foaming into a useful lather. This has been experienced by millions of users of such products.
Post-foaming gel products are generally packaged in rigid pressurized barrier packages/containers with hydrocarbon propellent gases contained therein. Such containers are expensive to manufacture and ship. The propellants which provide the positive pressure needed to aid in the dispensing of the product often do not form an integral part of the composition and are typically compartmentalized from the gel product; such containers are known in the industry as barrier packages because they provide a barrier between the propellants and the composition to be dispensed. Certain propellent gases ultimately released to the atmosphere from such containers have increasingly come under attack because they are environmentally unacceptable. Furthermore, the containers are not readily reusable or recyclable.
Each of the above-noted products suffers from various deficiencies. One of the greatest deficiencies is lack of foam or difficulty in obtaining and maintaining adequate foam levels during use.
In personal care and in household and industrial cleaning, foam and foam stability are associated with cleaning ability, as noted above. The consumer equates a greater foam level with better cleaning ability. In personal care, foams provide a particularly pleasing effect or feel if a rich, slightly wet, creamy foam can be achieved. These foam properties generally require a foam with a fine bubble texture.
In the past, it has been found that foams produced on dispensing from pressurized packages are often either too wet and runny, with limited foam stability, or are too stiff and dry. Neither of these sorts of characteristics provides the essential pleasing feel or texture referred to above. Therefore, it would be an improvement in the art to provide a composition that readily produces an initial rich foam or lather, and continues to produce greater foam levels during the cleansing process during which, of course, the composition is spread over an area much larger than the initial dispensing area.
In summary, a considerable number of deficiencies exist in the art relating to utilitarian compositions and in particular personal-care and cleaning compositions. While bar soaps are inexpensive and convenient, they are lacking in areas of hygiene and sanitation as well as in foam production and maintenance. Although liquid, foam and post-foaming gel products provide more convenience and sanitation, they too lack the optimum foam-producing and foam-maintaining capabilities, and often lack the good spreading ability desired in certain personal-care and cleaning compositions. Additionally, prior art post-foaming gel compositions often prove difficult and expensive to package and use, are often problematic from an environmental standpoint, and are costly.
Thus, there is an ongoing search for compositions which can be spread easily, provide the desired foam characteristics during use while maintaining sufficient foam levels even when spread during use, and are packaged and used in a more environmentally-acceptable manner. Clearly, there is a need for improved and novel personal-care and cleaning compositions that provide a desired creamy, rich foam, maintain foam levels during the spreading which occurs in the cleaning process, are economical, are easily dispensed, and can withstand multiple uses and multiple users while maintaining sanitary conditions and a clean, pleasing appearance.
In particular, there is a need for improved post-foaming products which overcome the foam shortcomings of the post-foaming products of the prior art. There is a need for improved post-foaming products which may be applied and spread easily and while maintaining good foam properties despite and during the spreading and use.